Waste Streams
Nuclear power has at least four waste streams that may harm the environment:
- they create spent nuclear fuel at the reactor site (including plutonium waste)
- they produce tailings at uranium mines and mills
- during operation they can release small amounts of radioactive isotopes
- during accidents they can release large quantities of dangerous radioactive materials
The nuclear fuel cycle involves some of the most dangerous elements and isotopes known to humankind, including more than 100 dangerous radionuclides and carcinogens such as strontium-90, iodine 131 and cesium -137, which are the same toxins found in the fall out of nuclear weapons".
Read more about this topic: Environmental Impact Of Nuclear Power
Famous quotes containing the words waste and/or streams:
“Whilst all the land was ringed with bristling arms
And flames laid waste our world,
All that was left me was a little garden
And thou within it, my beloved, my comrade.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“It was a tangled and perplexing thicket, through which we stumbled and threaded our way, and when we had finished a mile of it, our starting-point seemed far away. We were glad that we had not got to walk to Bangor along the banks of this river, which would be a journey of more than a hundred miles. Think of the denseness of the forest, the fallen trees and rocks, the windings of the river, the streams emptying in, and the frequent swamps to be crossed. It made you shudder.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)